CBO Releases New Cost Estimates for Goodlatte/Scott Dairy Proposal

CBO Releases New Cost Estimates for Goodlatte/Scott Dairy Proposal

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Congressman David Scott (D-GA) released a statement regarding the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) updated estimates of the costs of the Goodlatte/Scott Amendment to the Dairy Security Act. Congressmen Goodlatte and Scott offered this amendment during markup of the House Farm Bill. "Last year, we offered an alternative dairy policy that would provide dairy producers with voluntary margin insurance protection that did not include administrative fees and was not tied to a new supply management program that manipulates dairy prices and penalizes consumers," said Goodlatte and Scott. "This amendment provided for a viable safety net for producers without putting the government in the middle of market decisions." Goodlatte and Scott continued, "CBO's updated score of the Farm Bill finds that our amendment would save $100 million over the Dairy Security Act as included in the dairy title of last year's proposed House Farm Bill. We believe that the CBO score further proves that supply management does not work and our amendment will provide producers with a viable safety net without supply management and added producer fees. We look forward to continuing to work with Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson on common sense reforms for our nation's dairy farmers."